Railroad spike



Nov. 19, 1929. o. A. oLsoNA RAILROAD SPIKE 2 sheets-sheet 2 Filed veo. :51,1927

- Iowen'or Mms/MMM atented Nov. 19, 1929 I OLIVER A. oLsoN, osivLmNEAPoL-is, MINNESOTA RAILROAD ,SPIKE- Appiicatin ined December' 31, 1927; serial No. 243,864. l

rail or the yielding action of the tie, but

which nevertheless may be'easily removed is when forcibly lifted a comparatively short distance by a suitable tool.V

Another object of the invention is toprovide e :spike of theclass above described which whendriven into engagement with 20 the flange of the rail' will Abe locked in operative position, the structure of my spike drawing the head toward' the 'flange of therail when driven and moreover causing the stock of the tie to rst compress and then eX- 2y5- pand to fill diminished portions in the shank.v

These and'other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent fromk the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings whereinI like ref- 30 erence characters refer to lsimilar partsthroughout the several views andin-which` Fig. 1 is a vertical section vtaken through a tie and a rail, showing an embodiment of my improved spike securing the railY to said'v 35 tie;

Fig. 2 is a ment of the invention shownin Fig. V1 detached;

Fig. 3 is a cross section taken on the line i 40: 3 3 of Fig. 2;

n Fig. l is a side elevation of a slightlydifferent form of the invention; Y

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the head-ofV the same; 4

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the same;

Fig. 7 is a cross section taken on the line 7-7'ofFig.4=. p

In Fig. 1 anfembodiment of my invention especially adapted for soft wood ties is shown 59,. applied to a rail R and atie T.- 'This spike front elevation of the'embodicomprises elongated shankV ll-having'at its upper end the usualenlarged head 12 provided at the front edge'thereof with a claw adapted to engage the flange of the railand'- having at its lower end a spear-shaped bladeA portion 13 terminating in a wedge-shapedY pointl 132L adapted to be driven into the tie.`

`As shownV in Fig. 3 the entire shank of my spike may be constructed from a baror strip of material having a cross section of, trapezoidal .shape,g leaving the spike'with a lon gitudinal front edge'narrower than its lollgf-` f tudinal rearedge'. The purpose of this stru'cture is to cause the spike to creep or wedge lin Y f toward the rail when itis driveninto thevtie' and while'as shown inFigs. 1 toS the entire" front edgeis diminished a satisfactory spike' may be formed with onlyl a portion of the front longitudinal edge diminished.` y

rlhe-inclined dges Yforming thewedged shaped point are disposed at 'different angles to the line of force L of the spikeythe inclination of theffront edge ofthe wedge.

being greater thanr that of the rear edge.`

This causes the lower end or point of the spike to creep. laway from the 'frail as the spike is driven into' the tie, resulting inffbringing the upper end or head of the spike against the flange .ofthe'rail .i

Intermediate of the head 12 and the blade 13 of my spike and onthe front edge thereof I provide .a bulge 141i, thewidth of theshank Y the blade portion and consequently aord-` ingrecessed portions adaptedto lbe filled by the expansion of the'stock-ofthetie tesecurely hold the spike against displacement .K

lwhen drivenftoposition. The diminished central portions of the shank'may be'defined/ at the rearlongitudinal edge by anfinclined straight line 15 extending from the head 12 to diminishing or. tapering from thefbulg'eto the blade portion and :maybe d'ened'fattheA mately parallel with the line-15 anda straight line 17 inclined inthe opposite direction to forward longitudinal edge of the spike a substantially, straight line 16 eitending from thehead .12 to thebulge'lll and approiif' 9 line 15y and extending from the bulge' lll/to Y 'the bladevportion 13. It will,V of course1,"bev

understood `that-the lines 15, andllf( may .i fp y assume ydifferent shapes provided bulge 14 is Vleft some distance below the head of the spike on the front longitudinal edge and provided ay diminishedV portionk isrleft between said bulge and said blade. The widthof blade 13 is preferably somewhat less than the width of the upper portion of the shankr above bulge 14.

The form of the invention illustrated Vin Figs. 4 to 7 inclusive is practically identical with the form previously described and similar parts and lines will be accordingly numbered the same. The only exception is'that V- .Y the stock of the shank is formed from a piece of material of substantially rectangular cross section and has the intermediate portions of Y its sides adjacent theforward edge and about proved spike bulged or front longitudinal edge of the spike Y disposed toward therrail and the spike is driven vertically into the rail. The dimin\ ished width of the forward longitudinal edge of the spike causes the spike as it-is drivenv to creep inwardly toward and yagainstthe flange of the rail. Moreover, as'has been stated, the wedge-shaped point having wedgingV surfaces disposed at .different angles causes ,the lower end of the spike to creep or be drawn outwardly thereby tilting or'drawing theupp'er end of the spike inwardly snugly against the adjacent'edge of the rail ange.

. lIf the spike is driven as above directed when j In addition' scribed, when the `spike is being` driven into g the rail the stock of the rail is first compressed fullyA set within the tie the bulge 14 will actually underliethe flange. of the rail and the inclined edge defined by the line 16 will abut the longitudinal edge of the flange `locking the Yspike against upward displacement.v until V.the spike has been forcibly raised by av i suitable tool to ,'bring'bulge 14 above the flange. .Y 1 l to @the functions above deby thespear'shaped or diamond shaped blade 13 andthenexpands to fill the diminished por-4 tion directly above the saidblade 13, thusad-` ditionally locking the spike to the tie. Since the-upper portion of the shank isofgreater width than the blade portion 1.3 the hole.

formed by the blade portion will always Vbe snugly filled and there will beno play inthe y y I Y upper end of the shank.V

vSpikes heretofore widely used'by railroads Vhavev been generally unsatisfactory for theV reason that they would soon work loose from the rail, endangering the safety of trains passl ing over the rails. Moreover, spikes heretofore used have had no means connected therevwith for causing the Shanks and head ofthe spike to be drawn inwardly against the flange of the rail when they aredriven into the ties.

It ywillbe apparent from the foregoing de-y scriptionthat I have provided a simple, but highly efficient spike obviating theobjections to spikes Vheretofore used and adapted to be manufactured at relatively low cost.r Y

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may bemade in the form,de tails, arrangement and proportions of the ,parts withoutV departing from the scope of applicants invention. i

I/Vhat is claimedis l 1. In a railroadspike, a shank having sub stantially fiat sides, a head, a blade portion at its lower end provided with a wedge-shaped entering point, the front and rear faces of theJ shank being sharply contracted to form shoulders at the upper termination of the blade portion, the rear face of the shank Aabove the shoulder being defined by a plane rearwardly Y inclined to the axis of the spike, the forward face `being defined bygone plane portion parallel to the rear face extending downwardly from the head, and a second plane portion y diverging upwardly from the forward shoulder and intersecting the above namedplfxne. portion to form a forward facing bulge.

2.V In aV railroad spike, a shank having substantially fiat sides, a head, a bladey portion at its lower end provided with a wedgelshaped entering point, the front and rear faces of the shank being sharply contracted toA form shoulders at the upper termination ofthe blade Yportion,fthe rear face of theshank above theshoulder Lbeingfinclined to the axis of .the spike, the forward face above the shoulder vh avin g an upper portion substantial- Y ly parallel'to the rear face extending down! wardly from. the head, and a second portion diverging upwardly from the forward shoulder and intersecting the 'above named portion toform a forward facing bulge, Vsaid wedge- :shaped entering point being defined by two intersecting planes, said planes extending at different angles to the axis of said spike.

` In testimony whereof I ailix my signature.l

- OLIVER A. OLSON. 

